Six Weeks Since My Last Post! What on Earth Have I Been Doing?

I probably  ought to be totally ashamed that it's been like six weeks since I blogged. I've never gone that long before, but I honestly and truly had nothing to write about. I've of course been spending some of that time working on writing projects.

Much more of it in the last few weeks, though, working on costumes for the Beasties for the upcoming Tampa Comic Con. Beastie 1 is going as Link from The Legend of Zelda and Beastie 2 is going as classic Wonder Woman. I feel like I've been through every store in my entire town looking for the right clothing articles and materials for making swords and adding details to outfits....Way more work than I expected!

This is Beastie 1 and the sword we both worked on. I mainly did the sheath, he mainly did the pommel. It's a premade wooden sword underneath. Lost of craft foam and duct tape used to transform it! Still working on adding the details to his costume. I'm enjoying the leather work the most....

BTW, it's not just the perspective...he really is taller than that 6-foot high armoire...

This was one of the hardest parts! Beastie 2's top. Finding the right top in the first place was a near nightmare, and then figuring out how to get that gold design. I finally found some iron-on gold transfer sheets at JoAnn Fabric that you can cut into any shape you need. This is actually two sheets, which I pinned face to face and cut out using a pattern I drew myself of half the design, then opened it up, making it perfectly symmetrical. Thank God the iron-on stuff worked well with stretchy fabric!

We used the same kind of iron transfer to make white stars for the blue shorts she'll be wearing. And gold craft foam worked perfectly for making the headband, wrist cuffs, and belt.

I promise I'll post pictures of them both in full costume after the event!

Speaking of events, I spent Saturday selling books at a local craft fair.

Yep, that's me, at a church event wearing a shirt that says, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." :D (And in keeping with the Harry Potter theme, I bought a pair of Golden Snitch earrings from another vendor.)

The weekend before, the family went to the beach (Anna Maria Island) for a few days. Lots of sun, but not too much thanks to my father-in-law thinking to bring a canopy. We had an awesome huge, open patio outside our room where we set it up, and where I spent most of my time. This was our view:

Looking straight out from the patio.

Looking to the right.

We saw some cool wildlife while we were there, too:

Beastie 1 found a live starfish. 

This guy (osprey) flew out ever evening at dusk and dawn.

Before that in reverse order...birthday weekend, Fourth of July, sports camp VBS with me helping out in the cheer leading class and coming home completely whipped every night.

Okay, so maybe I could have squeezed in a blog post somewhere in there, but every moment of downtime I've had I've spent either reading or watching movies....Harry Potter marathon this week. Finished up last night. Beastie 1 commented whilst watching the Deathly Hallows part 2, "Mom, I can't believe after all this time you still cry during this movie." My reply: "Always."

Anyway, that brings us to now. Hope ya can forgive me. And hopefully I'll have more to say much sooner this time!